


Reunion

by rathernotmyname



Series: Fictober! 2020 [13]
Category: Papillon (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Canon-Typical Violence, Fictober! Day 13, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Light Angst, Louis is Just Exhausted, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Papi is Smitten and Denies It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:34:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28051743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rathernotmyname/pseuds/rathernotmyname
Summary: Papillon meets Louis Dega in captivity. As they exchange hesitant loyalty, Papillon thinks back on someone who would have needed it much sooner.Or:Having met as children 20 years prior, the reunion on their way to French-Guiana is quite bittersweet.
Relationships: Henri "Papillon" Charriere/Louis Dega, Henri “Papillon” Charriere & Louis Dega
Series: Fictober! 2020 [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2050200
Kudos: 3





	Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> Author's note:  
> I DO NOT CONSENT TO MY WORK BEING HOSTED OR REPOSTED ON ANY UNOFFICIAL APPS OR WEBSITES OTHER THAN ARCHIVE OF OUR OWN WITHOUT MY APPROVAL, PARTICULARLY APPS WITH AD REVENUE AND SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES.

„Louis Dega,“ Julot mutters, face leaning way too close to Papillon‘s. 

He keeps speaking, but Papillon tunes him out. He only watches as Louis Dega wanders across the room, lead by a doctor and only clad in his underwear, as they all are.

What were the odds?

He muses about Dega looking almost exactly like he had as an eight-year-old, still short and scrawny, neatly combed dark hair and thick round glasses. The only difference is his remarkably deep voice and the little roll of fat on his lower stomach that speaks of anything but hardship. He seems to have avoided poverty for his whole life.

If Papillon wouldn’t be so surprised to see him again, he would have been jealous.

Dega passes him without looking up or recognizing him. And why should he? The nine year old, polite, happy-go-lucky Henri is no more, his place had been taken by the safe cracker and professional brawler Papillon.

He doesn’t think about his parents often anymore, but Dega seems to bring back memories he has long buried. 

Would they be disappointed in him if they knew? Probably. He tries not to think too much about it, instead wondering about the fact that he heard Dega’s first name for the first time. 

‘Louis’ fits him. What has become of Joseph? If he changed as little as Dega, the youngest son most probably left his family as soon as he was able.

Papi watches as they are herded through the streets, carrying their bags and wearing the stupid uniform hats, Dega a few metres in front of him. At one point, a woman leans down from a staircase, calling his name and a man next to her promising that he will be out by Christmas. His wife and his lawyer, Papillon presumes. 

They sound sure of themselves. He wonders how much money Dega has. An inkling of hope flutters its wings beneath his sternum, waiting for its chance to fly. 

After all, he had promised Nenette that he would find a way to be free again, and if Julot is right and Dega is still as rich as back in his childhood…

Maybe he would plead forgiveness to his parents and let them adopt Dega and his brother after all this years, just as Dega had wished so long ago.

He tries to approach Dega as they are shoved onto a boat and into cages.

“Hey,” he says as Dega sits down on the floor next to another inmate, who looks just as posh as Dega. 

Dega looks up. Papi waits for the blooming of recognition, but nothing happens. 

“Do you have something to say?” Dega snaps impatiently.

Papillon regrets not having greeted him in English. Maybe that would have made him remember. Then again, perhaps his father punched half of his memories out of his pretty little head.

“Come with me, I got a free hammock back there,” he says, nodding his head into the direction of his temporary sleeping place.

“Why would I do that?”

Papillon loses his patience.

“You’re rich, and you look like it. You will need protection from now on, so I’m making an offer. Take it or leave it.”

Dega gives him an arrogant smile. “Oh, and you’re the most qualified to protect me? I’m taking my chance. I’ll stay right here-” he knocks onto the wooden floor as if Papi needs assistance in understanding him, “- and keep in the vicinity of the guards, thank you.”

Papillon presses his lips together in an effort to suppress his anger.

“Suit yourself,” he hisses. “It’s your funeral. In case you change your mind…”

Dega turns his back on him. 

Oh. Alright. 

Tempted to steal the round glasses from his nose, Papillon stands up, purposefully letting his shin collide with Dega’s shoulder. Then he returns to his hammock and tries to sleep.

The morning after the posh inmate next to Dega is dead, and Dega looks thoroughly shaken, doubling over to protect his vulnerable stomach as soon as someone steps even remotely close to him. The guts hanging out of the dead body tell Papi all he has to know. 

He beats the burly culprit to an inch of his life the following night as he’s just about to do it again at the expense of Dega’s life.

He’s not sure if it’s out of some misplaced feeling of loyalty towards his childhood friend, or just so the money doesn’t fall into undeserving hands.

After that, he is officially declared Dega’s protector, no matter how much trouble it constantly brings him.

It takes the warden to call Papillon “Monsieur Charrière,” voice dripping with disgust as if his name was something to be spit out and thrown away.

Papillon shrugs off his irritation, and turns his head to the side. Dega stares at him, mouth open, face pale with shock and sudden recognition. 

“Your parents are teachers,” he says later, eyes wide behind his glasses.

It’s not a question, but Papi nods. 

“Knocked your socks off, huh?” he quips, lips pulling into a smirk at Dega’s miffed expression.

“It’s just… you don’t resemble your younger self very much.”

“You do. I recognized you the moment I first saw you in France.”

Dega looks as if he wants to ask for clarification, but he rubs a hand over his face instead.

“Forgive me,” he sighs. “My life has been, well, let’s call it interesting these last few years. I didn’t expect to ever see you again. My father would have forbid it, in any case.”

“Who are you that you still listen to that brute who calls himself your father?”

Dega’s head tips back. 

“He paid for my education. I owe him-”

“Dega, you are a grown man. Fuck him. You don’t owe him anything.”

Brief silence settles between them.

“It’s strange,” Dega says after a while. “Here we are, reunited in prison, and still you pass on your worldy wisdoms to me.”

A laugh leaves Papi’s lips. 

“Well, you are obviously still as in need of them as you were 20 years ago.”

A cool, refreshing gust of wind dries the sweat on their foreheads and makes them breathe a sigh of relief. The whistle of a guard rings in the last five minutes before lock-up. 

“I’m glad that you’re here,” Dega admits suddenly, looking surprised at his own words. But when he meets Papi’s eyes, his voice is sincere. “It’s good to have someone to trust in.”

Papi doesn’t reciprocate the sentiment, but his eyes seem to tell Dega what he wants to hear.

As they lie down, bare feet tied with unforgiving metal shackles, Papillon thinks of the last moments before Dega left more than twenty years ago.

He thinks about a kiss shared on the stairs to his parents’ room, innocent and unskilled, full of desperation and curiosity. He thinks about how red Dega’s ears had been afterwards and if he looked like that when his wife kissed him, if she kissed him at all.

He thinks of Nenette, waiting miles and miles away, thinks of the portraits of Dega’s wife that Dega draws rarer and rarer.

He thinks of Dega’s quiet ‘I don’t want to go home’, and wonders if he still feels the same.

(Seven years later, he knows that he does.)

**Author's Note:**

> Part 2 of the "they met as kids" AU! Things are picking up behind the bars, and they just need some love. They'll get it eventually, I promise!  
> Thank you for reading ♥


End file.
